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According to the Supreme People's Court on August 27, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Higher People's Court publicly pronounced the second-instance verdict on the case of appellant Li Jianping for embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and connivance of a criminal gang-like organization. The court ruled to dismiss the appeal, uphold the death sentence, and report to the Supreme People's Court for approval in accordance with the law.

Li Jianping, 64, was once the Party Secretary of the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In September 2018, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced that Li Jianping was under investigation. After that, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission also issued a document to disclose the details of his violations of discipline and law. Li Jianping was accused of registering a company in the name of others and actually controlling it himself in order to embezzle state-owned assets, and used the "rock-paper-scissors" method to decide the candidates for chairman, general manager, and chief supervisor.

▲Li Jianping (Photo source: Supreme People's Court)

Reported 6 years ago and investigated

Accused of treating the area under his charge as "private territory"

According to his public resume, Li Jianping was born in 1960 in Bazhou, Hebei Province. After joining the workforce in 1982, he worked in Inner Mongolia Electronics School, Inner Mongolia Electronics Industry Bureau, Inner Mongolia Brewery, and Hohhot Municipal Economic Restructuring Commission. In March 1996, he began to serve as the director of the Hohhot Water Conservation Office and entered the water affairs system. By 2004, he had become the Party Secretary and Director of the Hohhot Water Affairs Bureau and Chairman of Chunhua Water Affairs Company.

In March 2011, Li Jianping left the water system where he had worked for 15 years and served as secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, until his fall. In September 2018, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced that Li Jianping was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and was subject to disciplinary review and supervision investigation.

In August 2019, Li Jianping was "double-opened". The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said that after investigation, Li Jianping had completely lost his ideals and beliefs, his party spirit and principles, and his bottom line of behavior. He violated the spirit of the Central Eight Regulations, occupied vehicles of subordinate units for a long time, did not report personal matters truthfully, did not explain the problems truthfully when the organization inquired, and entered and exited the country (border) many times without approval; he had no sense of discipline and law, regarded the areas under his charge as "private territory", required subordinate companies to provide office space and decorate for private enterprises, regarded subordinate enterprises as his own "money bag" and "cash machine", instructed subordinate state-owned companies to embezzle special funds, and violated national interests in the process of purchasing houses. For a long time, he was "both an official and a businessman", and he was in collusion with illegal businessmen to illegally seize huge economic benefits. He led a corrupt and decadent life and went abroad to gamble many times, causing adverse effects.

Details of violations of discipline and law have been exposed:

The wine cellar contains tens of thousands of bottles of various famous wines

Red Star News reporters noticed that in February 2021, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission published an article entitled "Removing the stumbling blocks to the development of the Economic and Technological Development Zones: The lack of supervision over the exercise of power by the top leader who is both an official and a businessman", disclosing the details of Li Jianping's violations of discipline and law.

The article stated that as the top leader of the Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone, Li Jianping not only treated subordinate enterprises as his own "money bag" and "cash machine", but also registered companies in the name of others and actually controlled them himself in order to embezzle state-owned assets. In order to disrupt the supervision, Li Jianping registered and established a company in the name of Wang, Ao, a waiter at a hotel, and Xu, a social worker. The legal representative was Wang, but the real boss was Li Jianping. What is even more ridiculous is that when selecting the chairman, general manager and chief supervisor, Li Jianping actually used the "rock-paper-scissors" method to solve the problem. The first was the chairman, the second was the general manager, and the third was the chief supervisor.

From simple power-for-money transactions to setting up shell companies to embezzle state-owned funds, Li Jianping has reaped huge economic benefits, with the amount involved reaching more than 3 billion yuan. According to Li Jianping's confession, apart from some of the money used for gambling, the rest was mostly used to purchase and collect famous paintings and calligraphy, antiques and jade, gold and jewelry, expensive watches, and a large number of famous Chinese and foreign wines. His wine cellar has tens of thousands of bottles of various famous wines.

The article said that relevant case handlers of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission revealed that in terms of the impact on the political ecology, 862 people were suspected of illegally entering the country, and the phenomenon of "bad money driving out good money" was rampant in the Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone. The article said that although the person himself was investigated and punished, his "legacy" still exists.

Collusion with gangsters

Connivance with illegal crimes of mafia organizations

On September 27, 2022, the Intermediate People's Court of Xing'an League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region publicly pronounced a verdict on the case of Li Jianping's embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and connivance of a mafia-like organization. It was determined that the defendant Li Jianping's actions constituted the crimes of embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and connivance of a mafia-like organization. He was sentenced to death, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property. Other defendants in the same case were sentenced to more than ten years in prison or life imprisonment. After the first-instance verdict, Li Jianping and the defendants in the same case were dissatisfied and appealed.

According to the court, Li Jianping embezzled 1.437 billion yuan of state-owned funds over a period of more than two years from 2016 to 2018. If calculated based on the two-year period, he embezzled nearly 2 million yuan of state-owned funds almost every day.

According to previous news from the Supreme People's Court, on August 17, 2023, the Higher People's Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held a second-instance trial of the case of Li Jianping, former secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone, for embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and connivance of a gang-like organization.

In addition, Red Star News reporters noted that according to the court trial, Li Jianping had long-term contact, close relationship, and collusion with Zhao Wenyuan (who has been sentenced), the organizer and leader of the underworld organization; Li Jianping failed to perform his duties in accordance with the law, and condoned the underworld organization headed by Zhao Wenyuan to engage in illegal and criminal activities in demolition projects, land acquisition, and job arrangements.

According to a previous report by the Inner Mongolia Morning Post, on December 31, 2020, the Hohhot Intermediate People's Court held a public trial and sentenced 41 defendants, led by defendant Zhao Wenyuan, for organizing, leading, and participating in a gang-like organization. Defendant Zhao Wenyuan was convicted of 17 crimes including organizing and leading a gang-like organization and was sentenced to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.

Red Star News reporter noted that in June 2020, the Anti-gang Office of the Public Security Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced that the Hohhot Public Security Bureau had filed a case against a mafia organization headed by Zhao Wenyuan (nickname: Little Landlord) in Hohhot in accordance with the law, and had taken compulsory measures against 42 criminal suspects including Zhao Wenyuan and Yun Jinjun's criminal gang, of which 33 were approved for arrest. The public security organs found that the criminal suspect Zhao Wenyuan and his organization members had committed a large number of illegal and criminal activities in Hohhot since the 1990s.

Red Star News reporter Fu Yao